Mississippi Market: Natural Foods Co-op

What’s a Co-op?

People have been working together since the beginning of time to achieve good things. A co-op is the result of what can happen when people pool their resources together to achieve a common goal. The business created is voluntarily owned and controlled by the people who use it. In our case, over 16,000 people have invested in our co-op by becoming member-owners. In return, the co-op operates for the benefit of these people, our member-owners, and is guided by the articles & bylaws they approve.

Cooperatives around the world look to seven internationally recognized principles to guide them. These are:

Voluntary and open membership

Democratic member control

Member economic participation

Autonomy and independence

Education, training and information

Cooperation among cooperatives

Concern for community

By adhering to these principles, we stay connected to our member-owners, to our community, and to the global cooperative movement.

Interested in learning more about the co-op movement?
Check out this short film about food co-ops in the Twin Cities, produced by Massachusetts-based filmmaker Steve Alves. Food for Change: The Twin Cities Story showcases food cooperatives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota, an area with the greatest concentration of food co-ops in the country. “I wanted to explore what happens when food co-ops have a strong presence in a region and the effect that has on jobs, local food, and local economies. Big agribusinesses and giant grocery chains are changing our country’s food system. Food co-ops are one of the few entities that stand in opposition to them,” said Alves.

Also, these organizations support and promote co-ops nationally & internationally: